It’s not hard to imagine the problems that a series such as Orange is the New Black would have run into if it was to be broadcast on a traditional network.

Series Creator: “So, what do you think of the pitch?”

Unfairly Exaggerated Parody of a Broadcast Executive: “It’s interesting. But we have some concerns. Why are most of the characters women? And do so many of them have to be black? And if there are going to be so many ladies, we need to have more fashion content to lock down that demographic. Those are just some initial thoughts.”

Series Creator: “But the story is set inside a women’s prison. They tend to be racially diverse. And the inmates don’t get to wear heels or carry designer purses.”

UFEPOABE: “I see. We like the lesbian angle. Helps with the male demo.”

Series Creator: [Thumps head on desk.]

Happily, Orange is the New Black was not picked up by a network that flattened out its edges in search of the broadest possible audience. It wasn’t picked up by a network at all. The series, based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of her incarceration and developed by Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds, was instead bought by streaming service Netflix as part of its nascent original-content business. And Netflix, bless it, stayed the hell out of the way and let Kerman’s remarkable story be told by a talented storyteller. After original-programming offerings that have ranged from solid (House of Cards) to disappointing (Arrested Development) to train wreck (Hemlock Grove), Netflix has, with Orange is the New Black, a great series that is truly original.

Orange is the New Black would work well as a darkly comic fish-out-of-water story. But it reaches another level by exploring the rest of the ensemble, and their backgrounds

Start with Taylor Schilling in the lead role as Piper Chapman, a relatively plain young woman who suffers the same fate that Don Draper is always worried about: a secret from her past catches up with her and she is suddenly shipped off to the federal pen. Schilling, who is in almost every scene, alternates between brave and terrified and suicidal, which seems about right. The use of frequent flashbacks to her life before prison, and the events that eventually put her there, give the Piper character an unusual richness and depth, even after only a few episodes — and they demonstrate that Schilling isn’t simply good at appearing wary and nervous all the time. Coming at a time when almost every acclaimed cable series is built around a flawed, aggressive male anti-hero, Piper is at the other end of the spectrum. She read self-help books before going inside. “You studied for prison?,” an inmate asks, incredulously.

Jason Biggs is Larry, Piper’s live-in boyfriend who is naturally shocked to discover her criminal past — “This is like I’m in a Bourne movie. Have you killed?” — but then, in a move that should frankly give him a permanent free pass out of the relationship doghouse, he proposes to Piper before she goes to prison, and vows to wed her upon her release. Between them, the two characters address two of the fundamental questions of late-night (tipsy) talking sessions with friends: How do you think you would handle prison? And, how do you think you would react if you discovered a dark part of your partner’s past? It makes for a series that, despite its unusual premise, is also very relatable. I can’t imagine what it is like in prison, but I know I’d be a wreck if sent there.

Orange is the New Black would work well as a darkly comic fish-out-of-water story: the hipster who makes artisanal soap suddenly finds herself trying to fashion a pair of flip-flops for the prison shower. But it reaches another level by exploring the rest of the ensemble, and their backgrounds. The Russian who runs the prison kitchen with an iron fist, but was herself bullied on the outside. The transgendered firefighter who suffers insults from the prison guards, but none that hurt as much as the disapproval of her own young son.

Rare is the series that can be funny, poignant and tragic. Orange is the New Black can manage it all in the space of a scene.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has released its last budget before the fall federal election

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